From building wood kayaks... The west system is great. Others are available
online for a little less (MAS, etc.) If you use the slow hardener (206) or the
REAL slow hardener (West 207) you will have a lot of time to work with it,
and you won't experience the amine blush between coats.You will need a
warm shop though! The foam rollers and the foam brushes work great. Pour or
dab it on, roll it, then use the plastic blade to scrape it nearly dry. Anything
more than the cloth wet-out is wasted weight. Lots of latex gloves, lots of
mixing containers, lots of brushes, and lots of ruined clothes! AND lots of
excess epoxy on the floor!!
On 3/24/2006 1:42 PM,
jessejenks@hotmail.com wrote to rebel-builders:
-> Mike,
-> The West System is very nice to work with. It's available at marine stores,
-> and some hardware stores. They have a complete line of fillers as well,
-> which are great. For surface fairing I like to use a mixture of 406
-> colloidal silica (gives it a creamy spreadable quality) and 407 low density
-> fairing compound. Stir in with your already mixed epoxy until you get a
-> viscosity that is nice to work with.
-> As for your plug, like I said, if you are only using it as a male mold you
-> don't have to spend much time getting it perfect, just make sure it is the
-> shape you want and don't worry about surface imperfections. You could
even
-> just cover the foam with duct tape and wax the hell out of it. When laying
-> up the glass a squeegee works great to get the epoxy spread out on the
glass
-> quickly. Mix small batches at first until you get comfortable. Warming the
-> mold surface with a hair dryer or next to a heater BEFORE you start to lay
-> glass on it will greatly ease the process of wetting out the glass. Wet out
-> each layer of glass completely and remove all excess resin before you
start
-> on the next layer. You want to get it spread out quickly because big globs
-> will start to harden first. The technique I prefer is using a small diameter
-> low nap foam roller. West sells these as well, they are yellow and come in
-> about 10" sections. I cut them into 2 or 3" pieces. I pour the mixed epoxy
-> onto a piece of wood or cardboard immediately to use as a roller pan, or it
-> will heat up in the cup and set up quickly. It can actually catch on fire.
-> What weight of glass and how many plies are you planning?
-> Jesse
->
-> >From: Mike Kimball <
mkimball@gci.net>
-> >Reply-To: <
rebel-builders@dcsol.com>
-> >To:
rebel-builders@dcsol.com
-> >Subject: RE: [rebel-builders] Fiberglass cowl - revisited
-> >Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2006 12:53:58 -0900
-> >
-> >Thanks Jesse. I was planning on using Safe-T-Poxy which I've used
before
-> >but it appears that Hexcel doesn't make that anymore. Besides, you
need an
-> >expensive pump to get the proper ratio. I will probably use the West
-> >System
-> >Epoxy because of the inexpensive metering pumps you can get that
makes it
-> >easy to dispense the proper portions of resin and hardener. I plan to use
-> >S-glass for the layup. I consider this to be the easy part. Getting the
-> >foam plug completed is the hard part. I very much appreciate your
thoughts
-> >along with the comments from the female mold folks. I'm going with the
-> >male
-> >mold. I wanna get this done and get the airplane to the airport for
-> >assembly. Summer's comin' and it's short in Fairbanks!
-> >
-> >Mike
-> >044SR
-> >
-> >-----Original Message-----
-> >From:
mike.davis@dcsol.com [mailto:
mike.davis@dcsol.com] On Behalf Of
Jesse
-> >Jenks
-> >Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2006 2:47 PM
-> >To:
rebel-builders@dcsol.com
-> >Subject: RE: [rebel-builders] Fiberglass cowl - revisited
-> >
-> >Mike,
-> >I wouldn't go to the trouble to make a female mold if I were you. I know
-> >others will disagree, but I think it's a waste of time. To make a female
-> >mold you have to make your foam plug perfectly smooth before you lay
glass
-> >on it for the female, and then you have to essentially make two fiberglass
-> >cowls instead of just one (because you are making a female). It's true
that
-> >the part you get from the female might have a nice smooth finish on it,
but
-> >that's assuming you know what you're doing with gel coat. I personally
hate
-> >gel coat. It adds extra weight with no structural value. If you have to
-> >make
-> >
-> >a repair or alteration to the part you have to sand off all the gel coat in
-> >that area, and unless the gel coat is done right in the first place it can
-> >end up being full of air and voids, and then you will have to sand it off
-> >anyway.
-> >On the other hand, if you just use your foam plug to make the final part
-> >you
-> >
-> >don't have to spend weeks prepping it because it will create the inner
-> >surface of your cowl which doesn't have to be perfect. You will spend
time
-> >on the outer surface of the cowl once all the glass is laid up,
-> >sanding/filling/sanding/filling etc, to get it faired and smooth for paint,
-> >then you're done. Also if you wax the male plug sufficiently there is no
-> >reason you can't use it to make another cowl in the future. If you don't
-> >ever make another cowl off it then there is only one big chunk of
-> >time/material/effort to throw away, and not two like you would have if
you
-> >make a female mold. Another thing to consider is using epoxy resin
instead
-> >of polyester or vynalester. It is more expensive, but in my opinion it's
-> >worth every penney. It won't toxify the air in your whole neighborhood for
-> >one thing, in fact most epoxies have almost no odor because they don't
use
-> >volatile solvents so nothing evaporates. Epoxy is stronger than the other
-> >resins, and it has less shrinkage. Epoxy can be mixed with a variety of
-> >filling/fairing/ thickening compounds to do the finish filling/sanding
-> >work,
-> >
-> >so you can use the same stuff for the whole project. I actually enjoy
-> >working with the stuff. Ask any Long EZ builder, the whole plane is made
-> >from epoxy, glass, and foam, and there are no female molds used!
-> >Anyway, that's just me, but I wouldn't make two molds to get one part.
-> >Jesse
-> >
-> > >From: Mike Kimball <
mkimball@gci.net>
-> > >Reply-To: <
rebel-builders@dcsol.com>
-> > >To: Rebel Builder's List <
rebel-builders@dcsol.com>
-> > >Subject: [rebel-builders] Fiberglass cowl - revisited
-> > >Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 12:29:23 -0900
-> > >
-> > >Forgive my ignorance but I'm still trying to understand this stuff. Many
-> > >have said that I should go with the female mold method so that I can
-> >build
-> > >more than one cowl if need be and also to get a better finish with gel
-> > >coat.
-> > >I'm still trying to figure out how to do that. Unless I have it wrong it
-> > >seems like I must complete the project as I had originally planned by
-> > >sculpting the shape I want out of foam, using spackling to fill gaps and
-> > >finalize the shape, then covering with something like Ultralight (bondo)
-> >or
-> > >maybe just primer, then a release agent then fiberglass. Then if I
want
-> >to
-> > >proceed to the female mold I must remove the cured fiberglass from
the
-> >foam
-> > >structure and use it as the female mold which will require preparation of
-> > >the inside of the fiberglass part, adding gel coat, then lay a new layer
-> >of
-> > >fiberglass inside the original fiberglass part. The original fiberglass
-> > >part would need to be reinforced or supported to hold it's shape for this
-> > >to
-> > >work. And I would have to somehow account for the slightly smaller
part
-> > >that would come out of the female mold so it will fit. To be honest, it
-> > >sounds like a lot of extra work. I want this to be behind me as soon as
-> > >possible. It's already too hard to get motivated to even enter my shop
-> > >knowing that this kind of work awaits me. I have no interest in making
-> > >more
-> > >than one of these dang things. Sure wish I could have found an
-> > >off-the-shelf nose cowl that could be adapted.
-> > >
-> > >
-> > >
-> > >Mike
-> > >
-> > >044SR
-> > >
-> > >
-> > >
-> > >
-> > >
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